Openers give England outside chance of victory
Strauss needs a big score to keep his place going into the tour of Sri Lanka this winter
Sunday, 12, Aug 2007 09:00
England need an unlikely 444 to win with ten wickets remaining after day four of the final Test at the Oval.
The home side finished on 56-0 at the close after India had earlier declared on 180-6 following a sluggish batting display.
Captain Rahul Dravid made a painful 12 off 96 balls as the tourists set England 500 to win.
Starting the day on 326-9, England's tail frustrated the Indians at the start of the day.
The final wicket partnership of Monty Panesar (9) and Chris Tremlett (25 not out) was worth 40 before Panesar was dismissed, giving Kumble his third wicket.
England were all out for 345, giving the tourists a mammoth lead of 319. Skipper Dravid surprised many by deciding not to enforce the follow-on.
His decision looked questionable as England reduced India to 11-3. Wasim Jaffer was dismissed for a duck by James Anderson after another umpiring blunder.
Umpire Ian Howell gave Jaffer lbw despite the ball looking to go over the stumps.
Dinesh Karthik (10) was the next to be dismissed after nicking Chris Tremlett's delivery with Paul Collingwood taking a sharp catch at second slip.
Sachin Tendulkar's final Test in England ended on a disappointing note after he was dismissed by Anderson for one.
Tendulkar, who has a record 11000 Test runs, went for the drive but had his stumps rearranged by Anderson's inswinging delivery.
Skipper Dravid and Sourav Ganguly steadied the ship with a partnership of 65.
Former captain Ganguly made an impressive 57 off 68 balls, which contained nine boundaries, before he edged a delivery to Andrew Strauss at slip off Collingwood.
In comparison Dravid made one of the slowest innings in Test history. The skipper limped to 12 off 96 after two hours and 20 minutes at the crease before Strauss and Collingwood combined again to dismiss him.
At tea India were on 121-5 with a lead of 440 runs, despite Dravid's innings plummeting the run rate to 2.63 an over.
Wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni whacked four boundaries on his way to 36 before his attempted cut went through to Matt Prior off Tremlett.
After reaching 180-6, Dravid called his side in leaving England a world record 500 to win.
But England survived a 20-over spell with Andrew Strauss hitting four boundaries in his unbeaten 23 off 72 balls while Alistair Cook was on 27 not out at the close.